Jobs recovery milestone reached in Worcester metro area

More than six years after the nation slid into a recession that would last 18 difficult months, the Worcester metropolitan area has finally recovered all jobs lost during the downturn.

Data released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show employers in the Worcester metro area, a sprawling region that encompasses 48 communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut, reported about 252,400 jobs during May, surpassing the previous peak of 250,600 jobs in February 2008.

The recovery is a milestone for the Worcester area, which lost about 12,100 jobs before hitting its low point in September 2009.

Yet the region also has changed as it has recovered. Fewer workers are making things. More workers are providing services, especially health care and social services.

"That kind of change is happening all over," said Andre Mayer, senior adviser to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a Boston-based trade group for employers. "The pattern of change over the last few years has varied by region and state by state across the country, but really we have been seeing a decline in manufacturing jobs and a rise in health care jobs."

The number of jobs in the Worcester area were adjusted to reflect seasonal hiring trends. The numbers also could be revised in future months.

The nation's recession officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, although job losses continued into 2010. At its low point, the nation lost nearly 9 million jobs.

Older, poorer urban areas in Massachusetts, known as gateway communities, have taken longer to climb out of recession, according to Michael D. Goodman, associate professor and chairman of the public policy department at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. That includes Worcester.

"A lot of that has to do with the extent to which these urban communities have a foothold in the innovation economy, which has been driving our growth in recent years," Mr. Goodman said.

The Worcester area has had both positive and negative forces driving its job trends since the recession started, according to economists.

Manufacturers are concentrated in the region, so declines in manufacturing have been more acutely felt here. The Worcester metro area lost about 6,200 manufacturing jobs since December 2007, according to federal data not adjusted for seasonal hiring.

Academic institutions established decades ago, however, have produced jobs and spun off private businesses. Employers added 1,100 professional, scientific and technical workers since the recession began.

Bosses also created 1,300 transportation and utilities jobs over the same period in the region, and hundreds of jobs for drivers are still being advertised in the Worcester area.

Davis Companies of Marlboro, a temporary staffing agency with its own staff of truck drivers who work under contract for others, is on the hunt for even more drivers, according to Brendon M. Davis, vice president of operations. A seasonal surge in lumber and landscaping supplies is raising demand for qualified, experienced operators, he said.

"During these heavy seasons, like the late spring into summer, everyone has more need for drivers," Mr. Davis said. "We could be searching, looking under any rock possible."

The biggest surge during the region's recovery, however, has been 9,400 new health care and social services jobs.

VNACare Network & Hospice hired more than 300 people over the past year and is looking for about 30 more nurses as the medical industry moves patients home from more costly settings such as hospitals, according to David A. Rose, vice president of human resources for the nonprofit Worcester-based VNACare Network.

"We're finding home care is the growing component of health care now," Mr. Rose said. "And I think with health care reform really in its infancy, hospitals and doctors are seeing that it's a great alternative, both cost wise and care wise."

Despite gains in health care and other fields, Central Massachusetts officials are not giving up on the biggest job shedder, manufacturing. Manufacturers also say they have jobs, albeit specialized jobs, to fill.

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce has convened a group to focus on maintaining and building the sector, said Timothy P. Murray, chamber president and chief executive.

"The average wage on the manufacturing side is the $50,000s in Central Mass," Mr. Murray said. "Those are good, solid jobs."

Contact Lisa Eckelbecker at lisa.eckelbecker@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaEckelbecker.